Ukrainian Village of the Mid-20th Century at Pyrohiv
25 dwelling houses of the 1950s–1970s from every region of Ukraine amid an old apple orchard — the museum’s largest exposition.
Ukrainian Village of the Mid-20th Century: History of the Exposition
In 1979 the museum opened the exposition ‘Folk Art in the Architecture of the Ukrainian Village of the 1960s–70s’ (today ‘The Ukrainian Village of the Mid-20th Century’). It occupies the south-western part of the museum on 12 hectares of an old apple orchard. 25 dwelling houses from all regions of Ukraine have been recreated here.
The spatial organisation is based on showcasing the most characteristic examples of individual rural housing of the 1960s–1970s. The buildings are loosely grouped according to the historic-ethnographic zoning of Ukraine: Polissia, the Carpathians, Podillia, Central Naddniprianshchyna, Poltava and Slobozhanshchyna, and Southern Ukraine. The tour route follows a winding road.
After the Khrushchev reforms village life changed radically: under the influence of the city, new technologies and materials, rural housing took on new qualities. Traditional features were combined with progressive techniques: pilasters, rustication, relief cornices, enlarged windows and a new layout with an entry hall, living room, bathroom and mansard.
Today the exposition is a showcase for all regions of Ukraine, hosting festivals and folk-art fairs. The interiors house displays dedicated to figures who served national culture: Petro Tronko, Levko Lukianenko, Oleksii Dolia, Romana Kobalchynska and Ostap Pasika.
Ukrainian Village Mid-20th-C. Sector Map
Sector map. The numbers on the map correspond to the monument list below.
Dwelling Houses of the Sector
Each house is a prototype (design template) of individual rural housing for a particular social group of its region.
1964
1. House from Skadovsk Town
A recreated 1964 home of a welder. Mansard-type with four rooms; walls of quarried stone, plastered. Golden walls pair with wooden gable cladding and white windows and pilasters. The terrace above the veranda offers a rest spot; a second exit leads to the household yard.
1969
2. House from Petrykivka
A 1969 home of a collective-farm mechanical engineer. Walls of unbaked brick faced with silicate brick ‘on edge’; window frames bear ornaments typical of the south. Petrykivka is the home of the unique Petrykivka painting inscribed on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list in 2013.
1962
3. House from Sebyne
A replica of a 1962 farm-machinery operator’s house. All homestead buildings are of shell limestone, the traditional material of the south. The house is painted blue, with the cornice, pilasters and window frames picked out in white. The hipped roof is tiled. Inside: a display of Hutsul and Pokuttia folk art from Dmytro Mohoruk’s collection.
1969
4. House from Troitske
A model 1969 farm-machinery operator’s home, built of the shell limestone used across the Odesa region. Walls are roughcast; against the pastel green facade stand out white fluted pilasters, the cornice and window surrounds. The hipped roof is covered with slate. Living area: 58 m².
1974
5. House from Yarke Pole
A 1974 home of an agronomist of the ‘Ukraina’ collective farm. Walls of shell limestone faced with sawn-limestone slabs; the plinth is dressed with greenish diorite. The hipped roof is tiled. Its hallmark: outbuildings and a summer kitchen under one roof with the dwelling, enclosing an inner courtyard — a ‘green room’.
1973
6. House from Bilenke
A replica of the 1973 house of a collective farm’s chief mechanic. A single-storey brick building with a three-colour scheme: pale pink walls, white surrounds of windows, pilasters and a relief frieze of turned brick. A period touch is a corded telephone. It hosts the ‘Ostap Pasika’s World of Wonders’ wooden bas-relief exhibition (500+ works).
1970
7. House from Rezunenkove
A 1970 collective-farm driver’s home from Slobozhanshchyna. Built of white silicate brick, its facades are adorned with red rusticated pilasters and a frieze; the black plinth is faced with breccia. Living area: 63.5 m². It hosts a memorial exhibition dedicated to Levko Lukianenko.
1975
8. House from Kahamlyk
A model 1975 farm-machinery operator’s home. Mansard-type, of local red brick; two entrances — main and service. The interior features furniture by local factories, clay ware from Opishnia (Ukraine’s largest pottery centre) and carpets from the Reshetylivka art works factory.
1959
9. House from Olkhovchyk
A 1959 miner’s home. A single-storey sandstone building, plastered; traditional blue shutters, pilasters with geometric insets and a black plinth define its look. Heated by three stoves. Beside the side facade stands a mine trolley, a symbol of the mining land; nearby is a replica of a Scythian sculpture.
1975
10. House from Krymske
A 1975 home of a collective-farm joiner. Built of shell limestone and faced with Lysychansk silicate brick; the walls are decorated with brickwork ornament on the frieze and below the windows, corners framed by rusticated pilasters. The house had water heating, gas and a telephone — a showcase of 1970s rural comfort.
1975
11. House from Trebukhiv
A model 1975 engineer’s home from the Kyiv region. A two-storey dwelling with a mansard; deep-red walls harmonise with white rusticated pilasters and window surrounds, the plinth faced with black glazed tiles. Floors are linked by wooden stairs; the insulated mansard enlarged the living space.
1967
12. House from Subottsi
Typical housing in new building materials, built in the museum to a 1967 design of a tractor driver. White painted walls pair with blue shutters, doors and rusticated pilasters; white and blue are the region’s leading colours. A small attached veranda serves as a warm airlock; the plinth is finished in black.
1967
13. House from Ruska Poliana
A replica of a 1967 collective-farm economist’s house, built in the museum in 1978 to the owner’s individual design. The homestead is split into a working yard and a ‘clean yard’ with a well, flower bed and orchard; there is an apiary. A brick style with unplastered walls enhanced by decorative ornament.
1953
14. House from Bilousivka
The oldest building in the exposition — a prototype 1953 collective farmer’s home from Podillia. It shows the traditions of plastic wall treatment: pilasters divide the wall and finish the corners, protecting them from frost. Walls of adobe; ceilings on wooden beams. Windows and doors are painted in intensive colours.
1969
15. House from Ivane-Puste
A model 1969 poultry-farm worker’s home. A single-storey building, nearly square in plan; brick plastered walls with rusticated pilasters. The facade is adorned by a small vestibule with a shaped gable. The era’s monumentality enlarged windows and doors and spread rustication and relief surrounds.
1976
16. House from Ustia
A prototype 1976 farm-machinery operator’s home. Walls are stamped with relief plasterwork in the traditional blue, while windows, pilasters and cornices are outlined in white. Exceptional decor graces the chimney tops, drains and the well canopy. The interior features paper cut-outs by artisan L. Meshchyshen.
1975
17. House from Ispas
A model 1975 village-council head’s home from Bukovyna. A single-storey house with a mansard; the dark-green walls with a yellow-ochre band are complemented by white window surrounds. The plinth is faced with red sandstone, the roof with red tiles. A local hallmark: stoves tiled with local ceramics.
1966
18. House from Barvinkove
A replica of a 1966 craftsman’s house from an Uzhhorod factory. Walls of adobe with brick course-laying, plastered with a two-colour relief mix; tiled roof. A four-room house with a mansard and an attached veranda. Adobe with brick courses has been a common Zakarpattia construction since the 1950s.
1955
19. House from Korostiv
A prototype 1955 state-farm blacksmith’s home. A single-storey spruce log house on pier foundations, board-clad, with a shingle roof. Two glazed verandas open onto the front and working yards. The interior features Yavoriv embroidery, Mykhailo Bilas woodcarving, Hutsul glass and carpets from the ‘Peremoha’ factory.
1964
20. House from Yamna
A 1964 trade worker’s home. A detachable single-storey spruce log house, board-clad, on a stone foundation. Its hallmark is the crossed shingle roof, which maximises the use of the second floor. Living area: 64 m². A testament to the log-building traditions of the Carpathian foothills.
1973
21. House from Pisky
A prototype 1973 district consumer-union worker’s home. A white-brick house; striking is the ornamental laying of white and red brick, relief elements and a frieze of profiled brick, with rusticated pilasters. The hipped roof is covered with galvanised steel. The Sumy region blends traits of Polissia, Slobozhanshchyna and Central Ukraine.
1970
22. House from Berezovychi
A house modelled on a 1970 car mechanic’s home. Brick, on a rubble-concrete foundation; finished with ochre roughcast and the traditional white ornament of frieze, pilasters and cornices. Two entrances — everyday and formal. Three rooms, 48.7 m² of living space.
1975
23. House from Zarichne
Recreated from a 1975 homestead of a district flax-collection point worker. Built of red Horyn brick on a basalt foundation; the spaces below the windows are adorned with white-brick flowers. Two exits — to the central street and the working yard. The interior features embroiderer M. Shevchuk’s works and Rivne flax-mill textiles.
1962
24. House from Kalyuzhyntsi
A 1962 building typical of Chernihiv Polissia; its prototype belonged to a carpenter. A white silicate-brick house on a concrete foundation; slate roof, windows adorned with painted white shutters. Living area: 32 m². The interior’s hallmark is a genuine peasant stove; a bandura is displayed in the living room. Carpets come from Dihtiari, an age-old weaving centre.
1969
25. House from Bekhy
A 1969 collective-farm driver’s house from the Zhytomyr region. The architectural motif is well-judged proportions and colours: a red granite plinth harmonises with red tiles, blue-green walls with white pilasters. Living area: 65 m². The interior features carpets of the Ovruch works, heirs to ancient ornament traditions.
Visitor Tips for the Sector
Best Photo Angles
The Petrykivka house with painted window frames, the Bukovynian house from Ispas with its contrasting green-yellow facade, and the wooden log houses from Korostiv and Yamna are the sector’s most striking spots.
Getting There from the Entrance
The sector occupies the south-western part of the museum; the tour route follows a winding road past houses of every region. A full circuit of all 25 homesteads takes 1.5–2 hours.
Must-See Highlights
Find the oldest house of the exposition (Bilousivka, 1953), the corded telephone in Bilenke, and the Levko Lukianenko memorial exhibition in Rezunenkove.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does this exposition differ from the museum’s other sectors?
While the other sectors show traditional folk housing from the 18th to the early 20th century, this one presents the village of the 1950s–1970s: brick houses, slate roofs, new layouts. It is the museum’s most recent exposition in time, showing how the Ukrainian village changed.
How many houses are in the exposition?
25 dwelling houses from all regions of Ukraine. Each is a prototype of individual housing for a particular social group: a driver, agronomist, miner or engineer. The selection criterion was conformity to the typology and decorative techniques of each region.
Is a separate ticket required for this sector?
No, like all the museum’s expositions, the Ukrainian Village of the Mid-20th Century sector is included in the standard admission ticket.